Today I spent
a good five hours writing up a beginner’s guide to the theory that is behind the program that I use every day. It’s an interesting thing to try and write a conversational guide to something that is anything but conversational. One of the things I’ve always been interested in is how to communicate science effectively. I think it’s a very fine balance between making it readable and making it correct. The secret I’ve found so far: you have to know your audience. Same as any piece of writing, you have to aim at them. Too high and they’ll skip bits that they don’t understand. Too low and they’ll skip bits because they do understand. I’ve given it to my colleagues, I’ll let you know how they like it.
Links.
If anyone reading has played the Left4Dead campaign ‘No Mercy’, can they tell me if this photoset looks uncannily familiar to them?
For those that are in the thrall of fantasy and science-fiction genres, but can’t find a decent resource of authors, The Ultimate Guide to Modern Writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy provides an incredibly comprehensive list for you to take names from. (via Dark Roasted Blend)
I meant to blog about this a while ago, but for the slightly voyeuristic amongst us (that is, everyone), this site that compiles a bunch of unknowing recordings of people is interesting listening. Read the description of how the webmaster came upon them, it’s a good ‘un.
An excellent blue shell papercraft pattern that I plan to make as soon as I get a spare moment alone with a printer.
Photo Credit: The authors of the paper via the MIT Newsroom.
